Dream Girls
by akane's gf
Summary: A few months before canon, Ranma and Akane find themselves in each other's dreams. (au, trans girl ranma)
1. Chapter 1

The first time it happened, Akane was enjoying a nice dream of herself at the beach. She'd finally gotten in the water and discovered she was a natural swimmer with Olympic-level talent when the scene faded to white around her. Rude, really.

She'd been dropped down into some cafe, a pretty girl with black hair sitting across from her and enthusiastically eating a strawberry parfait. Unfortunately for both of them, the 'dropped' part had been literal. An invisible force slammed Akane into the booth (thankfully in real clothes and not a swimsuit). The other girl yelped and narrowly avoided spilling her parfait.

"What the fuck?" she said, sounding more curious than defensive despite her word choice.

Akane didn't know how to answer that. Most of the time when her dreams shifted plots it was a lot more subtle. Not to mention she'd never managed to be aware that she was dreaming when it happened.

She was saved from having to answer by a dream waitress coming up and setting down another parfait in front of her. Akane took a minute to study the cafe. The details were fuzzy the farther away they were from her booth, disappearing into the same whiteness that pulled apart her other dream. There were other people there, but their facial features shifted too much for Akane to recognize anyone.

She was snapped out of her observing by a spoon scooping the cherry of the top of her parfait. "Hey!" she tried to grab the girl's wrist but she was too slow.

"What? Not like you were eating it." she said and then stuck her tongue out at her before popping the stolen cherry into her mouth. Akane growled.

"Who are you?" she asked, pulling her parfait back towards her. She wasn't really interested in eating it but she sure as hell wasn't giving it to this girl.

"Me? Uh, my name's Ranma. Shouldn't that be my question though, considering you're in my dream and stuff?" she'd set the parfait cup down, now empty, and seemed to actually look Akane over for the first time. "Whoa, hold on. Are you like, a real person?"

"A real person? What are you talking about?" Akane's temper had reached a boiling point. She grabbed her spoon and pointed it at Ranma in accusation. "What's going on here?"

Ranma held out her hands in a placating gesture. "I don't know! Really, I was just minding my business when you jumped in. Isn't this your doing somehow?" she still just sounded interested, no hint of frustration or anything. This made Akane angrier somehow.

"Of course not! I don't even know how to lucid dream, much less…" she didn't even know how to describe what was happening. Ranma seemed to understand her frustrated hand gestures anyways. Akane sighed and put her head in her hands. She missed the swimming dream.

Akane only got a few minutes before the sound of giggling broke her out of her wallowing. Ranma was trying (and failing) not to laugh, shoulders hunched and face red from the effort. Akane found herself starting to laugh too, if not at how ridiculous the whole situation was, then at how funny the girl in front her looked. They laughed together for about two minutes before Ranma stopped suddenly, her face grave.

"Hey," Akane tensed up at the sudden shift in mood,"are you gonna eat that?" Ranma asked, pointing at Akane's forgotten parfait. She maintained her deathly serious expression and Akane felt all of the tension bleed out of her. It was promptly replaced by anger.

"What the hell, I thought you were going to say something important!" Akane said, and then groaned. This girl was going to drive her insane, she just knew it.

"Aw, c'mon." Ranma whined, drawing out her words and pitching her voice to be extra annoying. Akane just growled at her and started shoveling the parfait into her mouth. She expected more resistance from Ranma, maybe even an actual fight, but instead she just gave a wistful sigh and watched Akane eat.

"What does it taste like?" she asked when Akane had gotten halfway down the cup. Akane raised an eyebrow at her.

"Weren't you eating one earlier?" Akane managed to ask in between bites. Ranma sighed again.

"This is still just a dream, you can't really experience new things. I've never had one in real life, so…" she trailed off and shrugged.

"Makes sense." Akane took another bite and hummed. "I mean, it mainly just tastes like ice cream. I guess I'm basing this off of the ones they sell at the cafe near my school. It depends on who's working that day but they're usually pretty thick and sweet, with lots of syrup. Their syrup is really good, the strawberry is my favorite." Ranma nodded as she spoke, almost like she was taking mental notes. Akane wasn't going to say it out loud, but she was pretty cute.

Akane considered for a minute before moving her cup towards Ranma. "Here, try it now. You've at least had ice cream before right?" Ranma nodded, a huge grin on her face.

"Mmm," Ranma let out an exaggerated groan, eyes closed in pleasure, "yeah I think I have it now."

Akane gaped for a second, but thankfully was able to pull her jaw up by the time Ranma opened her eyes again. She didn't manage to stop staring though, and this earned her a raised eyebrow from Ranma. Goddammit, this girl really was going to drive her crazy.

"What? Do you want it back?" Ranma asked, leaning back with the parfait. Akane almost went into another giggle fit, maybe a bit less hysterical this time, but she managed to just let out a laugh.

"No, you can keep it." Akane smiled, feeling a sense of ease she hadn't felt since she'd been slammed into this dream.

"Um, thanks…" Ranma seemed nervous all of a sudden,"I think, I mean um," she cursed under her breath and Akane looked at her curiously,"I think having you here probably helped. I mean since you've had these before…" she trailed off, as she started to realize something.

"Ranma?" Akane felt like she was getting whiplash from the sudden changes in mood.

"Oh wow," Ranma muttered, staring intently at the parfait cup in front of her, "I hadn't even thought of this." She looked up at Akane suddenly, startling her. "How much do you know about dreams?"

Akane thought about that for a minute. She sort of knew what lucid dreaming was because Yuka and Sayuri had gotten interested in it a few months ago and subjected her to their rambles on the subject. "Not much I guess. I usually don't think about it." This seemed to excite Ranma rather than deter her.

"Yeah, most people don't. I know I only got into this stuff since some guy in a monastery taught me about lucid dreaming," Ranma was starting to ramble.

"'Guy in a monastery' wouldn't that be a monk?" Akane blurted before thinking. Ranma didn't seem to mind thankfully, she just snorted and waved her hand dismissively.

"If that guy was a monk I'm giving up on Buddhism. No, I think he just lodged there. Anyways," she paused, "...what was I talking about?"

"Uh, dream stuff? I'm not sure exactly." Akane tried to help since she was the one to get her off track in the first place.

"Oh, right! Anyways, dreams just pull from memories right? Anything you see in a dream is something you've seen before, even it was just for a second. Your brain like, records it subconsciously or something. Don't ask me to give all the scientific stuff on this cause I don't really get that." Akane snorted at this and Ranma paused for a second to pout at her before launching back in.

Even the five percent of Akane's brain that still thought this was just a convoluted dream found Ranma adorable at this point.

"Like I was saying," Ranma continued, giving Akane a pointed look," this is amazing! We can both experience completely new things that we may not have ever even thought of because of our shared memories!"

"Like the parfait?" Akane asked, starting to get interested too.

"Yeah! Just imagining ice cream shouldn't have been enough to make it feel so realistic, and I don't think listening to you describe it would do it either. I'm pretty sure your memories filled in for what I didn't know." Ranma grinned. She was so excited about this it was infectious, and so Akane smiled back at her.

"We should run some more tests, right? Just to be sure?" Akane asked.

"Yeah," Ranma nodded,"hm, let's see… have you ever had lassi?" Akane shook her head and Ranma waved her hand. A glass of what Akane guessed was lassi appeared. "I had so much of this stuff when we were in India… there are non-sweet kinds too but sweet rose was my favorite."

Akane hummed in acknowledgment as she tried it. The moment her lips touched the glass she started to feel hot, making the drink feel heavenly. It was thick, sweet, and most importantly, cold. She'd drained the glass before she knew it.

Ranma grinned. "Good right?"

"Yeah..." Akane tapped her nails against the table thoughtfully, "is that something you drink in the summer?"

Ranma looked a little surprised. "Oh, yeah. I used to down glass after glass when Pops and I got back from training. The woman who ran the hostel we were staying at always wrinkled her nose at me but she made me more anyway." she laughed as she recalled the memory.

"Thought so. I felt hot as soon as I started drinking. I guess you have pretty strong memories connected to it?" Akane felt kind of silly theorizing when she felt so out of depth, but Ranma looked ecstatic so she must've been on the right track.

"Oh wow, I didn't even think of that..." Ranma was practically vibrating in her seat, "I mean just... wow. I've heard of linked dreams before but I never really thought about it. This is so fucking cool."

Akane thought back to something Ranma had said. "Wait, you said you always got them after 'training'? What kind of training?" she was trying to keep the excitement out of her voice as she asked. Training could mean anything, Akane told herself. Didn't mean she'd finally met another girl her age who was interested in martial arts.

"Man, our conversations go all over the place," Ranma mused, "and uh, Pops changes it up all the time but I guess just, in general, you could call it martial arts training... maybe."

Akane was too excited to notice the hesitation in Ranma's voice. "I'm a martial artist too! Do you study kenpo? Oh, but you said your dad has you do a lot of different stuff... have you ever done kendo? I've been looking into it, my sister says they have a club at her high school but she's not sure if they let in girls. Which is so dumb, I think I can swing around a wooden sword just as well as a boy," Akane only realized she hadn't been breathing when she needed to take in a breath. Ranma took the opportunity to cut her off.

"Is this what I sound like when I talk about dream stuff? No wonder Pops tells me to shut up all the time," Akane glared at her, "oh, um. No offense."

Akane huffed. "Well excuse me for being glad to meet another girl my age who's a martial artist. None of the girls at my school are into this stuff. They all just think I'm weird." she felt herself getting annoyed again as she said it.

"Weird, huh? I would've said tomboy." Ranma said with a shrug. Akane was getting ready to yell when Ranma just sighed. "Guess I'm a tomboy too."

Akane slumped back into her seat, shoulders dropping. "You're frustrating," she said flatly, fiddling with the edge of a dream cafe menu.

"Wha- frustrating? How am I frustrating? You're the one who dropped into my dream and starting yelling at everything!"

Akane did something neither of them expected, she started laughing again.

"If I'm frustrating you're weird," Ranma said, looking kind of lost but not wanting to lose an argument.

"Whatever you say, tomboy," Akane grinned.

Ranma spluttered a minute before giving up. She cleared her throat. "We've gotten off topic." Akane gave her a knowing smile. Ranma wouldn't look at her.

"What topic?" Akane asked.

"I don't know, dream stuff, whatever."

Akane was about to respond when she started glowing. "What-" she choked out. Ranma sprung up from her seat, panicked. Akane followed her gaze and almost screamed. The same white space that occupied the rest of the dream space had replaced her feet, and was working on her legs.

"Waitwait, I think you're just waking up!" Ranma tried to calm her down.

"What the fuck!" Akane shouted.

"It's okay, you're just gonna wake up in a second. Try to calm down." Ranma had grabbed her arms and was now very close. It didn't do much to calm Akane but at least now she was freaking out about something else. "Ah! Before you go, I never got your name."

"Agh, really?" Akane couldn't believe she was asking something like that when her waist was pretty much gone.

"Yeah I know, I gave my name right when we met, that was kind of rude of you," Ranma said, amused. She knew exactly what Akane had meant.

"My name's Akane! Happy?"

"Yup! Now wake up!" Ranma slapped her, somewhat lightly, on the side of the head. Akane shot up in her bed, breathing heavily. Her alarm blared a moment later and she groaned.

This was a bizarre start to her last week of junior high.

* * *

 **new story! i don't have a concrete updating schedule but the rest of the chapters will be longer.**

 **ty to jusendork (on tumblr) for beta-reading!**

 **my ranma sideblog is adhdranma if u wanna come talk about stuff w/ me!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Warnings: misgendering, transphobia, homophobia, abuse. all are pretty light (at least imo) but they are there.**

* * *

Ranma woke up with a rare sense of peace.

She thanked whatever force it was in the universe that had held her dad back from attacking her this morning and got up to change. Well, change from a dirty gi to a slightly cleaner one. She would have to convince her dad to stop by a stream later.

Ranma crawled out of her tent to find she was the only one in the campsite. She was relieved to not have to deal with her father so early in the morning, but also annoyed that he hadn't at least prepared breakfast before wandering off. Ranma sighed and pulled her pack out with her. She was pretty sure she still had some dehydrated ramen in there.

Right as the pot had started to boil a fist whistled past her ear. Only years of reflex training had saved her from the hit. Ranma turned and scowled at her father. "What's the big idea Pops? You almost made me spill breakfast."

He scoffed. "It would've been your own fault if you couldn't have dodged such a lazy strike."

"I did dodge it."

"So why are you whining?"

Ranma just rolled her eyes and reminded herself that gritting her teeth gave her headaches. She turned back to the pot and dumped the noodles in. She had to look at the packet three times to get the directions down, despite the fact that she's been making instant ramen since she could put together a fire. She resisted the urge to check the packet again and sighed. It was one of those days.

"Three minutes have passed boy," Genma said, halfway through a kata. Ranma, startled out of a daydream, looked down at the pot. It was threatening to bubble over.

"Shit! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she hissed as she scrambled for the wooden spoon.

"It wasn't my responsibility," Genma finished his set and sat near the fire, "really son, you need to break that habit of spacing out."

Ranma just grumbled at him while she poured the ramen into one of the plastic bowls she kept in her pack. She was too frustrated with him to have a real conversation. If her father cared he didn't voice it.

"Where were you this morning?" Ranma asked eventually, in between bites.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Genma chided. She almost choked on her noodles laughing. "I was checking out the path ahead of us. We probably won't make into the mountains by tonight but we should at least get to the village at the base of them."

Ranma hummed her acknowledgment before slurping down the rest of the broth. Her father made a face at her and she flipped him off. He was acting like her eating habits weren't entirely his fault.

"Perhaps we should take the last few months of this trip to teach you how to be in polite society boy." he mused.

"Laying it on a bit thick today aren't you?" Genma usually called her 'son' or 'boy' every once in a while, but he only did it every other sentence when he thought she wasn't acting manly enough.

He frowned at her. "I wouldn't need to if you didn't act so damn girly all the time."

Ranma raised her eyebrows. He usually just ignored her when she called him on it. "Oh yeah? How am I girly?" _Other than being a girl_ , she didn't say.

"Forgotten last night's incident already boy?" Genma sneered at her.

Ranma felt her face go hot and prayed it didn't show. She should've known better than to push this. Now her father was not only annoyed at her, but he was reminded of how he had found her trying out different hairstyles. Girl's hairstyles.

Her dad shook his head at her. "That's what I thought 'son'," Ranma flinched, "come on, let's spar and then we'll pack up camp."

Ranma picked herself up and tried to keep her face as blank as possible. It always freaked her out when her dad said things like that. Especially when he said it so knowingly. Ranma wished she knew how to make herself less of an open book to him.

She'd run through two sets of katas by the time her dad reemerged from his tent. She couldn't tell if he had actually changed his gi since all of his were the same shade of gross and worn. Which reminded her...

"We need to find a stream or something today."

Genma looked surprised. "Why?"

"To wash clothes?" Ranma didn't know what she did to deserve ten years of isolation with what must be the world's biggest slob.

"It's going to take time away from getting to the village..." he grimaced.

She frowned at him. "I'm not putting up with your stench until sundown. You found the village you can find some kind of water source."

Her father didn't answer for a moment before he attacked. Ranma held back a grunt as she blocked his kick. Her old man was built for strength but he was fast too, much to her frustration.

"That all you got old man?" Ranma taunted as she struck back. Genma dodged.

He came in for another attack, forcing her back. "Your words aren't matching your performance boy,"

Ranma growled and threw her fist towards his face again, this time leaping to follow his dodge and striking his stomach instead. Genma took the hit but barely stumbled back. Ranma bit back her frustration and jumped back before her dad could get a hit in.

"Not bad son," now he was just doing it to annoy her, "but still not enough."

Ranma barely had time to think before her father was in front of her, one hand aimed towards her stomach the other grabbing at her hair so she couldn't get away. Ranma fell to the ground, holding her stomach. She'd had worse but that didn't mean she didn't feel it.

"Let's end here," Genma said.

"Oh yeah, let's end where you can call it a win," her voice was a bit hoarse but not enough to take away from how angry she sounded.

Her father just rolled his eyes, not taking the bait. "You weren't winning anytime soon. We need to pack up and head out if we want to reach the village by sundown," he seemed to consider something, "and find somewhere to wash up."

Ranma relented at that. At least she got one thing she wanted.

Akane shuffled her feet on Yuka's porch, having already rung the bell twice and debating doing it again. Sayuri opened the door before she could.

"Akane! You're early." Sayuri said as she stepped back. Akane walked in and slipped off her shoes.

Akane grimaced. "I woke up on my first alarm today."

"That's rare," Yuka piped up from her on the couch. Akane stuck her tongue out at her while Sayuri giggled.

Both girls walked up to the couch, Sayuri just walking around and sitting down on it, Akane jumping over the back to startle Yuka. Judging from her glare, it worked. Akane grinned, before the reason she was here sobered her up.

"Do you guys think people are still saying that I'm... you know..." she mumbled, twisting the hem of her skirt between her fingers.

Her friends glanced at each other. Whatever they said in their silent conversation went over Akane's head, but she didn't miss Sayuri's sigh. Sayuri leaned over Yuka and squeezed Akane's hand. "Some people probably still are Akane, if I'm being honest. I don't think you need to worry about anyone who knows you though."

Akane's shoulders drooped and Sayuri took her hand away and leaned back. "Sorry, that wasn't what you wanted to hear."

"No, it wasn't. Not like it's your fault though." Akane pulled her legs up onto the couch and hugged her knees.

It had been one week since she'd zoned out in the locker room, appearing to be staring at one of her classmates. This only added fuel to the fire that was rumors about Akane's sexuality. Between her practicing martial arts and her short temper with the boys in their class, people had always been insinuating things about her.

Akane had thought things had gotten better when she grew her hair out and started gushing about Dr. Tofu when all the other girls were talking about their crushes. Since it only took one incident to lose her friendships with half the class, they had not. It frustrated her to think they were all secretly thinking it this whole time, waiting to pounce on the next piece of 'evidence'.

The worst part of the whole thing was that she couldn't even say they were wrong.

Akane wasn't oblivious, and her well of denial was running dry. Last night's dream wasn't helping. She could still recall the sound of Ranma's laugh with perfect clarity. And how soft her hair was, the exact shade of her lipgloss, the way she lit up when Akane handed over her parfait... Akane shook her head. This wasn't what she needed to be thinking about right now.

"Akane?" Yuka asked, looking worried.

"I'm fine, sorry, I don't know where my head is today," Akane said, wondering how long she had been spacing out.

Yuka and Sayuri both scooted closer to her and suddenly Yuka's arms were wrapped around her. "You know... even if the rumors were true we wouldn't leave you Akane."

"They aren't true," Akane said quickly. Even though they were and her friends had just reassured her they didn't care, she still couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud.

Yuka leaned back and grinned at her, wiping her eyes. "I know." The way she said it made Akane think she really did know. It didn't feel bad, despite Akane's hesitation to actually tell them.

"We should get going soon," Sayuri said softly, eyes on the clock. Yuka, still in pajamas and only halfway through her breakfast, cursed. She downed the rest of her rice and raced upstairs to change, Akane and Sayuri laughing at her all the while.

After they both calmed down, Sayuri leaned back into Akane's space. "Don't tell Yuka," she glanced up before meeting Akane's eyes again, "but I think I might... have a crush on somebody."

Akane straightened up. Sayuri rarely got crushes, just like Akane, so this was exciting. "Why can't Yuka know?"

"It would just make things complicated. Please?"

"I promise I won't. She might be hurt if you don't tell her soon though..."

Sayuri winced. "I know, but it's for the best. She'll know when I confess."

Yuka came down the stairs suddenly, winded. Her eyes widened when she saw the two of them still sitting on the couch. "What are you guys lounging around for? We need to leave!"

Akane and Sayuri glanced at each other, neither doing much to suppress the grin on their face.

"Yuka..." Akane started, trying not to laugh.

"That clock has been twenty minutes too fast since you were seven." Sayuri finished, Akane having succumbed to giggling.

Yuka deflated and sat down on the couch next to Sayuri without a word. Then she leaned until she had fallen into Sayuri's lap. "My friends are monsters," she groaned into Sayuri's blazer.

Akane couldn't help laughing harder, but Sayuri didn't so much as snort. She just petted Yuka's still tangled hair with a soft smile. "There, there," she cooed, "Akane can be early for once."

Akane would've gotten indignant at that but she was too busy thinking about what Sayuri had said.

 _'She'll know when I confess'_

 _'It would just make things complicated'_

Akane was beginning to have a theory about just who Sayuri's crush was. Maybe the evidence was shaky but looking at Sayuri now Akane was having trouble poking holes in it. She'd never seen her friend look so lost in someone else, even the so-called crushes she'd had before.

"Oh, Akane stopped laughing at me," Yuka said, voice muffled by Sayuri's stomach. Akane lifted her eyes to Sayuri's face, who at first looked curious and then a bit scared at the look in Akane's eyes.

"O-okay Yuka you can get up now. Akane can only get there early if we actually leave."

The walk to school was somewhat awkward. Sayuri couldn't look either Akane or Yuka in the eyes and ended up hanging back slightly. The blush never left her cheeks.

Yuka and Akane attempted at conversation with each other multiple times, but each time it just faltered into silence. In the end, Yuka just stressed over her incomplete math homework and Akane daydreamed about a certain girl of her dreams.

"Ah! My beauteous Ms. Tendo!"

All three girls turned around at the voice. Yuka and Sayuri glanced at Akane who shook her head wildly. She had no idea who this boy was.

He was tall with dark brown hair and was wearing a Furinkan High uniform. He ran up to Akane, ignoring her friends, and gripped her hands. "You are Akane Tendo correct?"

Akane nodded, eye already twitching.

"Ah! I knew my instincts were spot on! My name is Tatewaki Kuno, age 16. I am the rising star of the Furinkan High school kendo club, though my peers call me... The Shooting Star of Furinkan!" he paused, probably to breathe, and Sayuri cut in.

"And what exactly do you need with Akane, Mr. Shooting Star?" she asked impatiently, still not meeting Akane's eyes.

"Ah, yes, good question my fair maiden," all three girls bit back a groan, "Nabiki Tendo, your sly sister, told me you were interested in our kendo club."

Akane perked up. "Yes! I mean, yes, I am interested."

"You will come then, after school today?" Kuno leaned in, a grin splitting his face.

"Uh..." Akane's brain stalled and took the moment to notice just how much attention this was getting her, "sure? I-I guess that's fine."

Kuno leaned back and let go of her hands. He cleared his throat. "Then we will meet again. I bid you adieu Miss Tendo."

Akane was about to ask what was going on when Yuka piped up. "Well, I guess the new rumor is that you're dating a high schooler."

Akane dropped her head into her palms and groaned.

* * *

 **so this chapter ended up being about the same length as the first one... :(**

 **BUT it was a pretty speedy update, especially for me lol.** **upcoming chapters really will be longer this one just would've had an awkward cut off point otherwise**

 **also if ur worried about the story getting too dark/angsty dont, this story actually has a fairly light plot? this is just something i needed to set up for future events.**

 **as always if u wanna talk about the story my ranma sideblog is adhdranma!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ranma stumbled a bit as she fell into Akane's dream, but not with nearly as much force as Akane the night before. Judging by the look on her face, this irritated Akane. Ranma just grinned at her.

"It happened again," she said as she sat next to Akane. They were sitting in a traditional Japanese home, in the living room.

"Did you think it wouldn't?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know," she looked around, "is this your house?" It was pretty nice, if a bit fuzzy. They only had a few feet between them and the beginning of the whitespace.

"Oh, yeah. I guess it is." Akane looked around as well, and the edges of whitespace expanded back.

The room got clearer and more detailed the more she thought about it. Notches carved themselves into the table, paintings and pictures filled the walls, and it even started to smell different. Ranma hid her awe at how big the room was.

"Hmm," she studied the new additions to the room, "so, you're like, rich?" she was eyeing the tv as she asked this. The last one she'd seen that big was at Ryoga's house.

Akane shook her head. "Hardly."

Ranma glanced at the tv again and then shrugged. Not really her business. She straightened her legs out under the table in front of her and fell back onto the floor. Akane winced at the sound but Ranma wasn't bothered. It would take more than that to hurt her, even outside of a dream. Sketchy as her dad's methods were, they worked.

"Ugh, I'm so tired," Ranma whined.

"In a dream?" Akane sounded irritatingly amused at the idea.

Ranma looked up at her and pulled a face. "Yes, in a dream. You would be too if you had to climb up cliffs all day."

"I guess... why were you climbing cliffs?" Akane leaned in a little as she asked.

Ranma took a second to thank her ancestors that her skin was dark enough for her blush not to show. At least not yet, if Akane got any closer or any cuter it definitely would.

"Ah, just training an' stuff. Pops said we got off schedule cause of me so he made me go ahead into the mountains." she sighed as she recalled it.

The lazy bastard had stayed down in the village while she set up camp for them. He was supposedly meeting her in the morning but Ranma wouldn't be surprised if he got drunk in the village and she had to go down and get him. Not like it would be the first time.

"Do you go to school?" Akane was frowning now and Ranma had no idea how to interpret that.

"Umm, no," she said with a nervous laugh and started playing with one of her pigtails.

Akane got closer and Ranma shrunk into herself a bit. The tugging on her hair became more persistent. "It's not really a big deal..." Ranma mumbled.

Akane seemed to realize she was making her uncomfortable and leaned back. "Yeah, I guess not... I mean your dad homeschools you right?"

Ranma would've snorted at the idea if she weren't so uncomfortable with this line of questioning. Genma taught her the bare minimum of reading and writing but that was when she was eight. The most concern he'd shown over her education was when he forced her into that all boys junior high. Even then, he had other ulterior motives.

"Geez Akane, what is this, twenty questions?" Ranma didn't dare check but she was sure Akane was giving her a weird look again. She wished Akane would give this up soon and they could talk more about dreams or parfaits.

"That's the first time you've called me by my name," Akane said, surprising Ranma. Sure, she'd hoped, but Akane seemed more stubborn

She sat up on her elbows and twisted a bit to look at her. "Yeah, I guess it is... weird."

"You know, we should play twenty questions. Or something like it." Akane suggested after a minute of silence. She huffed at the look Ranma was giving her. "This is probably going to happen again right? We might as well get to know each other."

Ranma started messing with her hair again, this time in thought. "Okay... but I get to start."

"Sure," Akane shrugged.

"How long have you studied martial arts?" Ranma asked, pulling herself up into a proper sitting position.

"I think I started when I was about six? That was all just breathing and basic forms though, I didn't get into any advanced stuff until I was nine."

Ranma hummed in acknowledgment. She had finished basics by the time she was seven, but her dad was also a hardass when it came to training. She may not be well socialized but Ranma at least knew that not everyone trained like she did.

"You travel a lot for training right? What was your favorite place?" Akane asked.

"That was two questions."

Akane stuck out her tongue. "Shut up and answer."

Ranma smiled. She let herself think for a moment before answering. "There are these temples," she started, "they're in... West Bengal! Yeah, near a small village a little while away from Midnapore. I forgot the name... Pathra? Patha? I'm not sure. Anyways, they renovated them years ago, but there still aren't a lot of tourists because they can be hard to get to. They're beautiful."

Ranma was too caught up in her reminiscing to notice at first, but when she finally looked at Akane again she noticed her staring. Akane blushed when their eyes met.

Akane cleared her throat. "That, um, sounds nice. Think you'll ever go back?"

"I'd like to, someday. My mom's Bengali you know. Or, half-Bengali, whatever. It'd be nice to know where she was from and go there too. Find out more, maybe find any family she has there..." Ranma hugged her knees.

"Is she... dead?" Akane's voice trembled a bit as she asked.

Ranma didn't know what to make of that but she was hoping Akane didn't cry. She was terrible at dealing with crying, especially when it came to girls crying.

"Uh, no idea honestly." Ranma shrugged.

"Oh," Akane bit her lip, "my mom died when I was four. I don't remember much about her."

Ranma nodded, unsure how else to respond to that. The only experience she had with someone she knew dying was the old woman who used to coax her out of cat mode. She definitely was not bringing that up.

Akane wiped her eyes. "Sorry, that got... heavy. I think it was your turn?"

"Yeah," Ranma nodded again, "what's your school like?"

"Okay, I guess. Most of the teachers are pretty understanding, and the homework isn't so bad. Although," Akane wrinkled her nose, "can't say I like most of the students."

"Why?" Ranma asked.

"Well, it didn't used to be so bad. But, um, recently there's been this rumor going around that I'm," she dropped her voice so low that Ranma had to lean in to hear, "a lesbian."

Ranma's eyes widened. "Are you?" she told herself her interest was purely in finding someone like her.

"You- you don't just ask people that!" Akane shouted.

"Sheesh, fine," Ranma tried not to let her disappointment show, "it's your turn."

Akane huffed. For a second Ranma was scared she'd annoyed her so much that the game was over, but then Akane asked her if she had any weapons training. Ranma grinned and told her about how her dad had stopped training her with weapons because she got better than him.

They played for a while, neither girl keeping track of how many questions had been asked. They got off on tangents about every other turn but kept it light.

"I'm probably going to wake up soon," Ranma said through giggles. Akane's story about the weird boy from kendo club was too funny.

"Oh man! Whatever shall I do without my dream intruder?"

Ranma stuck her tongue out at her. "Just thought I should warn you."

"Hey, before you go, wanna see the dojo?" Akane asked, leaning in closer in her excitement. Ranma couldn't help but think of earlier, though the circumstances were different.

The meaning of Akane's words hit her suddenly. "You have a dojo?"

Akane nodded and grabbed Ranma's hands. She pulled her up with her. "C'mon, it's out back,"

Ranma followed numbly, a visible blush on her cheeks. Akane was saying something else but Ranma couldn't hear her over the sound of her own heartbeat. She tried to calm herself down, without much success. Ranma knew what a crush felt like, and this one was just as miserable as her last.

She was failing to convince herself it couldn't be a serious one since they had only met twice when Akane caught her attention again.

"Ranma?" Akane waved her hand in front of her face and Ranma batted it away in instinct. Akane raised an eyebrow at her. "Back to earth?"

Ugh, Ranma knew it was a fuzzy brain day but that didn't mean she knew how to stop it. "Yeah... were you saying something?"

"Just that we were at the dojo," Akane shrugged. She had let go of Ranma's hand at some point and was now opening up the dojo door.

"Cool," Ranma muttered, shaking her head to try and clear it.

Akane was pulling out equipment when Ranma walked into the dojo. Mats, dummies, and some gis. She turned to Ranma and grinned.

"Ready?" she asked, rocking on her heels.

"Yeah," Ranma's voice came out too gaspy for her liking. She smacked herself on the forehead and tried again. "Um, yep, yeah. I'm ready"

Now Akane was looking at her weird. "Okaaay. Wanna change?" she offered one of the gis to Ranma.

Ranma looked down at her outfit. She didn't tend to pay her appearance much mind, especially in dreams. The most she did was alter it to look a little more feminine. She let her brain put together whatever memories of clothes she liked, which was a simple red blouse and a light pink skirt this time. She weighed it against a plain gi, which was her only outfit most of her life. The choice was clear.

"No, I'm fine with this."

"You sure? You're wearing a skirt." Akane looked apprehensive.

Ranma just shrugged. "Yeah." she didn't see why it was such a big deal.

"Well I'm changing," Akane paused, "can you even change in a dream?"

"Yeah. Just imagine you're wearing it. I mean you can go through the motions and stuff if that helps."

Before Ranma had even stopped talking Akane was closing her eyes. Her entire face scrunched up in effort, making Ranma laugh. Akane stopped to glare at her but only for a second until she noticed her new outfit.

"I did it!" she cheered.

Ranma tried not to let it bug her that Akane got it quicker than she had. She also tried not to marvel at how cute Akane looked at that moment. Ranma was experienced with avoiding her feelings.

Ranma cleared her throat. "Ready to spar?"

Akane nodded, a wide grin splitting her face. She got into a starting position and waited for Ranma to do the same. She quickly got annoyed when Ranma only crossed her arms behind her back.

"What are you waiting for?"

"You to move," Ranma said, taunting her a bit.

Ranma had done a mental run-through of all the positions she knew and decided this would be the best. Akane was just impulsive and easy to rile up enough for it to work. She'd never actually seen the other girl fight, but she figured just based on musculature and the way she moved that Akane depended more on strength than speed. Not a bad thing, but a bad match to Ranma for sure.

She was proven right as Akane charged, swinging at her right off the bat. Ranma made a note of how Akane was putting too much power in her blows as she dodged. Akane swung again but from the other side, forcing Ranma to change direction in mid-air. Luckily, Ranma was pretty good at air-based combat.

They probably could've kept up a similar pattern for a while. Then Ranma did something she didn't tend to do in bouts with her father; she took a risk. She went on the offensive, darting past Akane to get behind her. Akane, while slower, had good reflexes. She moved to turn around, but Ranma didn't give her a chance, pinning her to the ground before she could get away.

Akane, pinned under Ranma's knee and with her arms being held behind her back, laughed.

"You're pretty good!" she praised.

"T-thanks," Ranma said, flustered. She let go of Akane and stood up.

Akane pulled herself to her feet and stretched her arms, wincing a bit. Ranma stared at her. She was pretty sure no one had complimented her after a match before. Certainly not Genma.

"Um," Akane looked at her, "you too," Ranma groaned internally at how lame that came out.

Akane just smiled at her. Ranma wasn't sure if it was just her sappy crush brain or if Akane smiling like that really made the whole dreamspace project a feeling of warmth. She was too busy enjoying it to wonder about it much.

Ranma felt the familiar sensation of waking up and waved goodbye to Akane. She looked confused before she saw the white glow around Ranma. She waved back.

"See you tonight!" she said, grinning.

Ranma was about to ask her what she meant by that but the dream had already faded around her. She woke up much more rapidly than Akane had the night before, but that was to be expected. Ranma wasn't sure what happened with Akane if she were being honest. She'd never left a dream like that.

Ranma woke up in her tent. She unzipped the door and winced at the light. Akane was right, it was still daytime. She hadn't remembered falling asleep but she must've checked out soon after setting up camp. A thought occurred to her and Ranma giggled as she realized that Akane must have fallen asleep in class.

Ranma crawled out of her tent and zipped it back up behind her. She stood up and surveyed her camp. It was pretty bare, besides the tent and the firepit. She hadn't bothered to set any of Genma's stuff up, she'd just stuffed his bag in her tent. She wasn't too confident about him coming home anytime soon.

Ranma frowned when she noticed her own bag outside her tent. That meant she'd left it unattended while she slept. She almost wondered if she was getting out of shape for mountain climbing to have made her this tired. Ranma kneeled down and pulled her bag toward her. Might as well do inventory while the old man's out goofing off.

She was running low on instant ramen but still had plenty of protein bars so not an emergency. She had an unopened pack of band-aids and three rolls of gauze outside of her first aid kit so she was more than prepared there. She had a freshly washed gi and her old middle school uniform, which would probably be a tight fit. Ranma frowned at that and made a note to bug her old man about it next time they were in a town together.

Lastly, she checked her wallet. She opened it looking for five thousand yen and found an IOU note. Ranma sighed and vowed to hit her dad extra hard for that.

Her stomach growled, breaking Ranma out of her thoughts. The last thing she had eaten was instant ramen for breakfast. She didn't want to rely too much on the food in her pack, but she was pretty sure she'd set up traps before nodding off and her dad kept rice in his bag. Genma always insisted that the food was his and only shared with Ranma out of the kindness of his heart. So she definitely was not supposed to take it out of his bag, but he'd stolen money she'd been saving for about a year so Ranma didn't care anymore.

Besides, if he really got mad at her they'd just fight it out, which they did everyday anyways.

Her mind made up, Ranma crawled into her tent and started digging through Genma's pack. It had been so long since she had taken food from her dad, she'd forgotten where in his bag he kept it. She started on the very first small pocket on a whim.

It turned out to be the right choice as Ranma pulled out a mostly empty bag of jasmine rice. She almost cheered but stopped short when she noticed an envelope under where the rice had been. Or really, she noticed the name on the envelope.

Nodoka Saotome.

* * *

 **Just a heads up that updates will be slower for a little while due to finals!**

 **i had a few things i wanted to write into this chapter that did not end up happening, but they likely will soon enough. next chapter is when the plot really starts moving foward!**

 **ty for reading, if you want to talk abt the fic or just ranma 1/2 in general my tumblr is adhdranma!**


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